World athletics agree to reinstate Russian federation but athletes still banned

World Athletics boss Sebatian Coe says the World Athletics Council has agreed to the reinstatement of the Russian athletics federation following its seven-year suspension for government-aided systemic doping.

However, the governing body maintains that Russian athletes, coaches & officials from remain banned from the sport due to the invasion of Ukraine.

Just a handful of Russian athletes took part in track and field at the Tokyo Olympics, which was postponed from 2020 to 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and they did so under a neutral flag.

A lifting of sanctions over the doping issue has little immediate effect, however, as all Russian and Belarusian athletes have been banned from competition "for the foreseeable future" since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. That includes the option of competing as a neutral.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) had opened the door for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals at the 2024 Paris Games but calls to have them excluded have increased.

Meanwhile the Council on 22 March awarded the 2024 World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships to Antalya in Turkiye and the 2026 World Athletics Indoor Championships to Torun in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian region of Poland.

“Both Turkey and Poland have established good records as hosts of international athletics events. Turkey most recently hosted the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Istanbul this month, despite the hardships created by the recent earthquake, while Poland is a regular host of World Athletics Series events, having staged the World Athletics Relays in Silesia in 2021 and the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia in 2020, underlying their commitment to our sport on a global level,” Coe said.

Seychelles’ former African U20 bronze medalist relocates to Kenya to tap into Omanyala’s brilliance

This will be the second time that Turkey has hosted a World Athletics Series event, following the 2012 World Athletics Indoor Championships, held in Istanbul. Some 500 athletes from 50 countries are expected to compete in Antalya next year in what will be a qualifying event for the Paris Olympic Games.